Agenda • My Background � curiosities and interests � getting a career Usability – A recent gradate perspective • Usability in the industry • Some good usability resources. 2 Auckland University – CS 345 My background Psychology and computer science Years 1-3 in Psychology, years 2-4 in Computer Science vs. Divergent Interests, or one profession? Finding the path to take through study to career . Year 3, ergonomics (Prof Brenda Lobb), exposed to usability for the first time. 3 4
Usability – a great combination Translating interests into (paying) career. Looking for employment Challenge • Chasing up opportunities: separate the dead ends from the real ones. Complex task + Complicated tools = • Enthusiasm for field, you need to paint your picture, Limited productivity and reinforce its value. Two domains • Human-to-Computer (HCI) • ‘Networking’ and keeping in touch. • Human-to-Human (CSCW) How it worked generally, how it worked at Clarity Navman. Consistency • Persistence – Pick companies, stay in touch. Metaphor Navigation • Be prepared to wait and see, try to get a contact on the Orientation ‘inside’ that really wants you there. 5 6 What it means to work in usability Where am I in the organisation? • What's it really like? My title ‘Graduate Usability Engineer, reporting to: • The practical stuff vs. ideal methods – It’s a mix, time pressures Senior Usability Engineer reporting to: • Thinking and Doing Core Technologies Manager reporting to: • The ‘tools’ we create for the organisation to use in Chief Technology Officer decision making. – Constant creative process, find new ways. I will also be working cross-functionally with the development team, the product strategy team, • Usability in the process (where does it fit…) marketing and design, and others… – Software development and product lifecycle. Benefits of being a graduate • Usability, Ergonomics, Human Factors -rare roles… – Needs to be embedded in everyone’s workflow. crash course, learning opportunities. 7 8
Hit the ground running Usability in Innovation • New products come out all the time, Some • Push to get a tangible product – prototypes examples: • Compromises, time and money constraints This is our – example, ‘hard’ processes like manufacture cannot wait. older model • Make the best of it The Pocket PC – Priorities, get some good done • Staging Improvements – no nirvana design, iterative. • Understand what customers need, represent it accurately in organisation Innovative industry, innovative processes, a • Help engineers design with right needs in mind little about VoC… – Personas and placemats 9 10 VOC technique – Cordis Example VoC – Cordis Example 5 Steps to conducting VOC Abstract: Plan outcome-based interviews. It's difficult to find a company these days that doesn't strive to be customer driven. Too bad, then, that most companies go about the process of listening to customers all Deconstruct the process. Select users carefully to fit needs (Cordis wrong. What usually happens is this: Companies ask their customers what they want. selected cardiologists, nurses, and hospital administrative staff). Customers offer solutions in the form of products or services. Companies then deliver these tangibles, and customers just don't buy. The reason is simple--customers aren't Capture desired outcomes expert or informed enough to come up with solutions. That's what your R&D team is for. Rather, customers should be asked only for outcomes--what they want a new – Weed out vague statements, get outcomes from user solutions. product or service to do for them. The form the solutions take should be up to you. Using Cordis Corp. as an example, this article describes a series of effective steps for capturing, analyzing, and utilizing customer input. First come in-depth interviews, in Organise the outcomes which a moderator works with customers to deconstruct a process or activity to unearth "desired outcomes." Researchers then compile a comprehensive list of – Remove duplicates, organise into logical groups. outcomes that participants rank in order of importance and degree to which they are satisfied by existing products. Finally, using a simple mathematical formula called the Rate outcomes for importance & satisfaction "opportunity calculation," researchers can learn the relative attractiveness of key opportunity areas. These data can be used to uncover opportunities for product – Users to rate outcomes in terms of importance and current development, to segment markets properly, and to conduct competitive analysis. satisfaction levels. Web link : Use the outcomes to jump start innovation http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0201H – Use the data to uncover the opportunity areas for product development. 11 12
VoC Technique – Cordis Example cont… Some More Innovation • The difference between asking people what they want, and watching them do something to figure it The sport tool out what they need. Currently sponsoring • Goal: Solve human needs, and create product the Maui windsurfer race. differentiation –innovation. • One way to do this – Opportunity Requirements Calculation icn 510 � Importance + (Importance - Satisfaction) = Opportunity Was originally a prototype and is now a Results of this VOC analysis were that Cordis’ market share grew from fully fledged product on 1% in the US to 10%, Net Sales shot up by 30% and its new financial the market. position allowed to grow into a wider range of markets. 13 14 User Testing at Navman – another article Some good usability resources There are many things that Navman need to test and evaluate with users: Here are some good resources that are free. Here are the main ones… Jakob Nielsen's site, www.useit.com � Industrial designs � Human-Machine Interfaces www.boxesandarrows.com � Interaction models vs. user mental model of system � Graphical User Interfaces www.upassoc.org � Speech Interfaces http://www.jnd.org User testing is very useful in order to evaluate the product, and trained usability people are the people that would conduct the above testing appropriately. It is a good idea to attend UPA meetings, they are held There are those that believe that although testing is important and should be left to the once a month, this months is about information professionals, there are a number of ways that usability can be conducted to some degree or another, by all the member within the development team. The link architecture. If you are keen on continuing with below is an article which should shed some light. usability, contact Beryl and she can give you the email address to rsvp. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/investing_in_usability_testing_versus_training.php 15 16
17 Any questions…
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